Minister for the Cabinet Office

Minister for the Cabinet Office
	; ; Royal Arms of Her Majesty's Government; ;
	; ; ; Incumbent; David Lidington; since 8 January 2018;
	; Cabinet Office;
Style	; The Right Honourable;
Member of	; Cabinet; Privy Council; National Security Council;
Reports to	; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom;
Seat	; Westminster, London;
Appointer	; The Monarch; on the advice of the Prime Minister;
Term length	; No fixed term
Website	; www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk;

The Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The office has no statutory footing or recognition, and is unpaid. Every individual who has held the office has therefore also been appointed to a sinecure office to secure a seat at cabinet and a salary.

Function and Status[edit]

The Cabinet Office has a primary responsibility to support the work of the Prime Minister and ensure the effective running of government.^[1] Within this set-up, the Minister for the Cabinet Office has been seen to have varying responsibilities and stature in the government. The role is a flexible one and has variously been described as one or several of the following under different office-holders (and sometimes conflicting accounts of the status of the same office holder)^[2]:

Monitoring the co-ordination of the work of government departments

Chairing or sitting on several Cabinet Committees

An additional title to indicate special responsibility

An additional title to indicate seniority

Deputising for the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions^[3]

The government presently describes the minister for the Cabinet Office as being "in overall charge of and responsible for the policy and work of the department, and attends Cabinet".^[4]

Damian Green held the office in 2017, simultaneously with the office of First Secretary of State. Green chaired numerous Cabinet Committees and filled in for the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions. By virtue of his responsibilities and as First Secretary of State, he was considered a de facto Deputy Prime Minister^[5]. Upon the appointment of David Lidington in 2018, Lidington retained the responsibilities Green had held, but the title of First Secretary of State remained vacant (as did the office of Deputy Prime Minister, vacant since 2015).

The office in its present form therefore appears to have the responsibilities of a de facto Deputy Prime Minister, without either of the associated titles usually granted to individuals in the British Government (First Secretary of State or Deputy Prime Minister).

Current Minister and Responsibilities[edit]

The current Minister is David Lidington, who was promoted as part of a New Year Cabinet Reshuffle by Theresa May in January 2018. He simultaneously holds the sinecure office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Lidington chairs a number of cabinet committees and will deputise for the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions.
The role has had varying responsibilities over time.

The most recent responsibilities are:

Supporting the Prime Minister in the running of the Government of the United Kingdom.

Deputising for the Prime Minister.

Advising the Prime Minister on developing and implementing Government policy.

Driving forward government business and implementation including through chairing and deputy chairing cabinet committees and taskforces.

Overseeing constitutional affairs and maintaining the integrity of the Union.

Oversight of all Cabinet Office policies.

Ministers for the Cabinet Office[edit]

Every occupant of the position has simultaneously held a sinecure office, this being Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from Clark to Byrne, Paymaster General from Jowell to Gummer, and First Secretary of State with Green. David Lidington holds the role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

	Term of office		Political party
David Clark	2 May 1997	27 July 1998	Labour	Tony Blair
Jack Cunningham	27 July 1998	11 October 1999	Labour
Mo Mowlam	11 October 1999	7 June 2001	Labour
Gus Macdonald	11 June 2001	13 June 2003	Labour
Douglas Alexander	13 June 2003	8 September 2004	Labour
Alan Milburn	8 September 2004	6 May 2005	Labour
John Hutton	6 May 2005	2 November 2005	Labour
Jim Murphy (acting)	5 November 2005	5 May 2006	Labour
Hilary Armstrong	5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour
Ed Miliband	27 June 2007	3 October 2008	Labour	Gordon Brown
Liam Byrne	3 October 2008	5 June 2009	Labour
Tessa Jowell	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour
Francis Maude	12 May 2010	11 May 2015	Conservative	David Cameron (Coalition)
Matthew Hancock	11 May 2015	14 July 2016	Conservative	David Cameron (II)
Ben Gummer	14 July 2016	11 June 2017	Conservative	Theresa May
Damian Green	11 June 2017	20 December 2017	Conservative
David Lidington	8 January 2018	Incumbent	Conservative

Ministers of State for the Cabinet Office[edit]

Occasionally, a Minister of State for the Cabinet Office is appointed who is junior to the Minister for the Cabinet Office.

Name		Term of office		Political party
	Derek Foster	2 May 1997	6 May 1997	Labour	Blair
	Peter Kilfoyle	6 May 1997	28 July 1999	Labour
	Ian McCartney	28 July 1999	11 June 2001	Labour
	Barbara Roche	11 June 2001	29 May 2002	Labour
	Douglas Alexander	29 May 2002	13 June 2003	Labour
	David Miliband	16 December 2004	11 May 2005	Labour
	David Laws	4 September 2012	7 May 2015	Liberal Democrats	Cameron (Coalition)
Vacant		8 May 2015-present			Cameron (II)
					May (I)
					May (II)

Shadow Ministers for the Cabinet Office[edit]

Official Opposition[edit]

	Term of office		Party	Shadow Cabinet
Andrew Lansley	15 June 1999	18 September 2001	Conservative	Hague
Tim Collins	18 September 2001	23 July 2002	Conservative	Duncan Smith
Unknown
Francis Maude	2 July 2007	11 May 2010	Conservative	Cameron
Tessa Jowell	11 May 2010	8 October 2010	Labour	Harman
Liam Byrne	8 October 2010	20 January 2011	Labour	Miliband
Tessa Jowell	20 January 2011	7 October 2011	Labour
Jon Trickett	7 October 2011	7 October 2013	Labour
Michael Dugher	7 October 2013	5 November 2014	Labour
Lucy Powell	5 November 2014	14 September 2015	Labour
Lucy Powell	5 November 2014	14 September 2015	Labour	Harman
Tom Watson	14 September 2015	7 October 2016	Labour	Corbyn
Ian Lavery	7 October 2016	February 2017	Labour
Jon Trickett	February 2017	10 July 2018	Labour
Jo Platt	10 July 2018	Incumbent	Labour

Scottish National Party[edit]

Name		Portrait	Term of office	Frontbench team
	Tommy Sheppard		May 2015 – present	Robertson

Liberal Democrats[edit]

	Term of office		Shadow Cabinet
Alan Beith	bef. April 2003	aft. April 2003	Kennedy
Richard Allan	bef. August 2003	aft. April 2004	Kennedy
David Heath	April 2006	January 2006	Campbell
Norman Baker	bef. July 2007	December 2007	Campbell
Norman Baker	bef. July 2007	December 2007	Cable (LD)
Susan Kramer	December 2007	May 2010	Clegg
May 2010 – May 2015, the Liberal Democrats were in a coalition government, so did not have a shadow ministry
no appointment announced	July 2015	present	Farron Cable

References[edit]

^ "What We Do". Cabinet Office. Government of the United Kingdom.

^ "Fourth Report: The Cabinet and the Centre of Government". Parliament.uk. Constitution Committee of the House of Lords. Retrieved 9 January 2018.

^ "Tory chairman Brandon Lewis defends reshuffle". BBC News. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.

^ "Minister for the Cabinet Office". Cabinet Office. Government of the United Kingdom.

^ Cheung, Aron. "Cabinet committees show Damian Green is de facto Deputy PM". Institute for Government. Institute for Government.

External links[edit]

Cabinet Office

[Cabinet_Office_Website-1] "What We Do". Cabinet Office. Government of the United Kingdom.

[2] "Fourth Report: The Cabinet and the Centre of Government". Parliament.uk. Constitution Committee of the House of Lords. Retrieved 9 January 2018.

[Reshuffle_Article,_January_2018-3] "Tory chairman Brandon Lewis defends reshuffle". BBC News. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.

[Minister_for_the_Cabinet_Office-4] "Minister for the Cabinet Office". Cabinet Office. Government of the United Kingdom.

[Institute_for_Government-5] Cheung, Aron. "Cabinet committees show Damian Green is de facto Deputy PM". Institute for Government. Institute for Government.

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